Korean War

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT KOREAN WAR - PAGE 2

The Korean War Veterans Association is seeking members to start a chapter in Washington County. To be eligible, prospective members must have served in the U.S. military in Korea between Sept. 3, 1945, and the present day. This includes veterans who served in Asia, Europe or the continental United States from June 25, 1950, through Jan. 31, 1955. The association will be at Valley Mall in front of The Bon Ton today from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For information, call Bob Miles at 301-371-7769.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- In at least 60 years of riding motorcycles, the late William R. "Red" Berryhill Jr. never was much of a Harley-Davidson devotee, his son, William P. Berryhill, said Wednesday. "Back in the day, he was a fan of the old Indians," William P. Berryhill said, two days after his 77-year-old father died in a motorcycle accident. Indian owners didn't tend to switch to Harleys, he said. On Monday about 3:20 p.m., Berryhill, of Glengary, W.Va., lost control of a 1978 Kawasaki motorcycle as he rounded a curve while traveling east on Apple Harvest Drive near Parkinson Drive and his Berkeley County home, according to police and his son. The motorcycle's kickstand struck the pavement and caused Berryhill to be thrown from the vehicle and into a guardrail, West Virginia State Police First Sgt. E.D. Burnett said Wednesday in a press release.

HAGERSTOWN -- Lester Hart stood proudly on the pitcher's mound Friday night and threw out the ceremonial first pitch for the game between the Hagerstown Suns and Lake County Captains at Municipal Stadium. Hart, 90, had boasted that he could throw a baseball at about 99 mph. But on the 64th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Europe, his thoughts and those of the many veterans who attended Friday's game were focused on that larger contest known as World War II, where winning ensured freedom for future generations of Americans.

Pvt. Heren Blevins met the beginning of his end on Dec. 2, 1950, when the former Hagerstown resident was captured at the Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War. Military records indicate Blevins was wounded in the arm and taken prisoner when elements of the 7th Infantry Division were overrun by Chinese communists. The 19-year-old soldier was taken to a prison camp that the captives dubbed “Death Valley.” Some of his fellow prisoners of war who were repatriated after the war told military officials that Blevins died of malnutrition in January 1951.

The remains of U.S. Army private from Hagerstown who died of malnutrition as a prisoner of war during the Korean War are scheduled to be returned home this weekend and buried in Rest Haven Cemetery on Tuesday afternoon, officials said. Heren Blevins was wounded in the arm and taken prisoner in the Chosin Reservoir on Dec. 2, 1950, when elements of the 7th Infantry Division were overrun by Chinese communists. The 19-year-old soldier was taken to a prison camp that the captives dubbed “Death Valley.” Some of his fellow prisoners of war who were repatriated after the war told military officials that Blevins died of malnutrition in January 1951.

MARCH 2, 1929-MARCH 23, 2009 Charles G. King, 80, of Hagerstown, Md., passed away Monday, March 23, 2009, at Washington County Hospital, Hagerstown. Born Saturday, March 2, 1929, in Bristol, Tenn., he was the son of the late Carl Farmer and the late Gertrude King Farmer. Charles graduated from Baltimore Polytechnic High school and attended Catonsville Community College. He served in the Navy during the Korean War. He was employed with Canteen in Baltimore, Md., starting in 1954.

Speaking about the war often referred to as the “forgotten war,” Hagerstown-area resident Les Bishop said the Korean War was one of the most significant events of the previous century and deeply affected the communist movement. Bishop was the speaker at Sunday morning's Veterans Day ceremony in front of the Washington County Courthouse in downtown Hagerstown. Approximately 130 people attended the 59th such ceremony sponsored by the American Legion auxiliary of Morris Frock Post 42 in Hagerstown.

Washington County veterans of the Korean War, including the 42 who died during the conflict, will be honored Sunday, June 23, with the dedication of a monument to their service. The dedication ceremony is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the monument site near the intersection of Mealey Parkway and Potomac Avenue in Hagerstown, said Les Bishop, commander of Korean War Veterans Association Antietam Chapter 312. Bishop and other members of the association met with the Washington County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday to discuss the project, the main elements of which were put in place last week.

When Robert G. Leatherman Sr. was a medic during the Korean War, his wife was busy working at Fairchild Aircraft, updating war plane blueprints as revisions were made, she recalled Sunday. “You make the best of it when you’re alone, working,” recalled Patricia Leatherman, 81, as she stood over her husband’s grave at Cedar Lawn Memorial Park west of Hagerstown. Leatherman, whose husband died in 2006, was among the more than 100 people at the cemetery’s Memorial Day service on Sunday.